FROM INVENTOR SPOT
Facebook Could Face More Privacy Backlash With Augmented Reality QR Codesby Ron Callari
Microsoft has publicly released a tagging systemthat will allow users to leave a breadcrumb trail for the firm, its advertisers and just about anyone else to follow. Attaching QR barcodes to products, street scenes, magazines, business cards and such when viewed through smartphone camera can redirect users to programmed URLs that can contain content, photos or videos. Facebook is experimenting with that technology, which brings privacy back under the microscope, front and center.
Tag software allows businesses that use thesebarcodes access to "advanced analytics" and "real-time location services." Since these codes add an augmented reality layer to a user's environment, anything viewed through a smartphone camera will now be tagged with markers and overlays that mesh the real-world with the virtual. Points of Interest (POI) and business establishments have a new means to communicate with users using this location-based functionality.
As a result you can track where users are acquiring products and services - or better yet, you can direct them to locations and URLs to purchase them. The implications for brand marketing is multi-faceted and in 2010, Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft are just at the cusp of capitalizing on this lucrative advertising channel.
While TechCrunch reported on "Facebook Kicks Off Implementation Of QR Codes" back in March, the story has laid dormant for these last few months, probably because Zuckerberg is still digging himself out from his Open Graph backlash. But according to Robin Wauters, she had received enough tips to believe that Facebook was enabling users to generate their own custom two-dimensional QR codes.READ MORE
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